The New Age
by edenal
Summary: As the war between the Radiant and the Dire reaches its closing stages, an unfathomable power begins to rise from the depths of the Dire. The forces of the Radiant must band together to combat this rising threat, the Advent of Knowledge.
1. Chapter 1

The Drow Ranger stumbled upon the craggy rocks that dotted the dark trail as she sprinted back toward her fountain, her calves burning and her chest throbbing from the various nasty wounds she had acquired. Traxex felt the adrenaline pulsing through her body as she clambered away from the site of the meeting, knowing very well that she would have been killed if she had not carried such escape items with her.

The resistance put up by the Dire had proven to be much more impenetrable than she had initially anticipated, although to be fair, Traxex went into battle far too lightly. One of her allies, the mighty Omniknight Purist Thunderwrath, had initially warned her of the dangers of overconfidence. But Traxex had not heeded their warnings, slightly touched at Purist's solicitude but determined to enjoy herself. And now she slightly, _slightly _regretted her recklessness. After all, it ended up landing her in a situation where she could barely take two steps without feeling nauseous.

She pressed on, leaping over the ruts that had formed through hundreds and hundreds of marches through the road, wincing in pain every step and flinching at every noise until she realized that it was merely one of the Radiant's creeps – in this case, a relatively deformed creep holding a gnarled wooden club. Slightly embarrassed at her jumpiness, Traxex continued back to her fountain, albeit at a slightly slower pace. Once again, she began replaying the day's previous events in the eye of her mind.

_Once again, another new day had brought another chance to destroy the Dire Ancient. And so, Purist Thunderwrath called upon four other heroes of the Radiant to take different lanes in the dense forest. What he did to pull the stoic Anti-Mage out of his reclusive activities, Traxex had no idea, but the first and foremost of the Radiant heroes had finally been brought out to head what was expected to be the final and greatest assault on the Dire. Along with the veteran hero that had represented righteousness and power, Purist had also called the fiery Lina, and the Grand Magus Rubick. Out of all the heroes, Traxex had still gotten along best with Purist – Lina was too annoying for her to handle and Anti-Mage was simply too…detached. Her feelings toward Rubick were simply ambivalent, with nothing much to be said. They had always gotten along well, but Purist had represented a sort of father figure to Traxex – one of unyielding confidence and an unshakable faith in the Omniscience, one that Traxex found had helped her in many situations. _

_As the early dawn arrived, the heroes were divided up into three different routes, each path a different way to the Dire Ancient. Traxex had been assigned a direct route to the Dire side, one that was affectionately dubbed "mid." Purist himself took a more southern route, one that Lina jokingly called "the suicide lane", one that Traxex knew as "bottom." Rubick was assigned the same route as Lina – an obvious attempt by Purist to keep Lina under check, as Rubick was just as wise as the Omniknight – and the Anti-Mage was left to his own devices, which usually resulted in extensive training amongst the numerous neutral creep camps that surrounded the battlefield._

_Before departing, the Omniknight had bestowed upon them information regarding the characters that they would be facing on the battlefield, ranging from the quirky Chaos Knight to the evil Mordred the Phantom Assassin. Traxex had encountered several of the heroes that Purist mentioned, but others she had never heard of, such as the Enigma and N'aix, the Lifestealer. Amongst the many names mentioned, Purist outlined a few that were known to be amongst the more powerful of the Dire, Lucifer the Doom, Darkterror the Faceless Void, Meepo the Geomancer and the most dangerous one of them all, the legendary Invoker. He instructed the Radiant team to inform each other of the presence of any of the few heroes classified as major threats through a series of aerial signals and animal messaging, repeatedly stressing that taking on any of the aforementioned names would not be a wise choice. _

_Taking off by herself, and with the well-wishes of Purist, Lina and a simple nod from the Anti-Mage, Traxex worked her way up "mid" over a course of several hours, lurking in the shadows and picking off any creeps that were getting too rowdy along the way. As the two sides collided for the first time in the center of the battlefield, Traxex had finally glimpsed two of the five heroes that the Dire had recruited: a hulking blue brute known as the Night Stalker, a fiend whose powers were rumoured to grow exponentially in the absence of the shining sun, and a slightly smaller, but much more built red Orcish being. Traxex knew this adversary was called Mogul Khan the Axe, but she did not believe half the rumours surrounding him: a particular one told of campaign, one that was called Thousand Tarns, and lore told of his single-handed victory over hundreds of opposing troops. Of course, there was no way that a single warrior could take out hundreds of soldiers by himself – dozens, of course, was plausible, but hundreds? _

_Nonetheless, the Drow Ranger exercised caution. She had previously went on assaults although she had not had to take the middle route by herself before, and therefore was not used to how she would lead this. Was she to stay at the front lines in front of her creeps, or assist them from afar with her prodigious archery talents while they hacked away at themselves? She had slayed a fair share of heroes in her own right, although Traxex knew that this time the Dire would only send their most powerful heroes. Furthermore, the presence of Axe disturbed her – the Night Stalker was a foe that was relatively straightforward, a predictable beast that grew stronger in the dark and thus in Traxex' book an enemy to take lightly, but Axe was an unknown quantity, one that, if legends were true, was to be amongst the Dire's strongest warriors. _

_She had therefore stayed in the shadows of the surrounding trees for several hours and slowly moved up "mid", wary of letting her presence be known to the opposing heroes, when darkness suddenly descended upon the route. Disturbed by the sudden change in ambience, Traxex was even more shocked to realize that the darkness was caused by the powers of the Night Stalker, who evidently could block out the sun's light. Cursing, she readied her bow for several well-placed shots at the Stalker, until it had suddenly, seemingly teleported right in front of her. Gasping in shock and realizing that the so-called teleportation was actually sheer speed, she was met with a swift slash to the chest as the Night Stalker lacerated her with his long talons. He then opened his gaping maw in a twisted approximation of a lopsided grin to reveal several layers of sharp white teeth. _

"_Well, well…look who we have here, Axe," the Night Stalker had hissed maliciously. "Come here! This is the Drow Ranger, the girly who killed Lion!" _

_Immediately following the Night Stalker's notification, Mogul Khan began slowly lumbering over to the Drow Ranger, smashing the trees out of his way with his bare hands. _

_Her heart pounding and a trickle of sweat rolling down her brow, Traxex began firing arrows rapidly at the Night Stalker, intent on getting back to the Radiant Ancient and escaping this dangerous fate. Much to her surprise, however, the Night Stalker simply dodged them and seemed to grow even larger, opening his maw fully to reveal a twisting black tongue that seemed to drip venom. _

"_I thought you would have known…that I become stronger in the dark! You cannot outmatch me in my element, Drow Ranger!"_

_By then, Axe had finally ripped out the last of the trees separating him and Traxex. She could see every vein that lined his arms, and was particularly displeased to see that his namesake axe was covered in shining red blood, and how it looked very very sharp. Night Stalker began laughing, drips of saliva falling on Traxex and burning her skin. Grimacing, Traxex jumped back several feet and began channeling her Drow heritage into her bows, while focusing more on Axe than Night Stalker. The resulting frost arrows hit Axe across his pectorals, resulting in evident pain from the Khan. Night Stalker, however, dodged most of the arrows while getting hit from two, and noticeably slowed down from the freezing magic covering the arrows. Roaring in frustration, the Night Stalker screamed a terrifying scream, one that was so tearing that Traxex dropped her bow to cover her ears. In a few seconds, the enraged Stalker was on Traxex, ripping at her chestplate to expose the softer belly underneath. Axe, however, merely stayed back and observed dispassionately, almost as if he was bored. Resorting to using the arcane items that she had brought with her, Traxex raised one hand at the Night Stalker and cast a silencing spell, one that ended the terrifying noise. Choking, the Night Stalker stumbled back a few meters while clutching his throat, as Traxex quickly picked up her bow and took from her bag a dark purple blade. Frantically channeling the energy in the weapon, the Drow Ranger melted away into the darkness as the Night Stalker, bewildered, looked around for her. _

"_Shadow blade."_

_The only words that Mogul Khan had said thus far, Axe raised his namesake axe and set it on his back, lumbering back towards the line of attacking creeps. As Traxex began running back to the Radiant camp, the silence over Night Stalker wore off and his final scream of terror rang through the forest, a noise that reverberated the very depths of Traxex' soul._

Snapping out of her reverie, Traxex found herself walking towards the Radiant fountain, having managed to make her way back to the camp without any other troubles. Sparing a glance at the beautiful Ancient that made up the centerpiece of the Radiant alliance, the Drow Ranger was greeted by Purist Thunderwrath, who was sitting next to the Radiant fountain tending to a couple of injured creeps. He was obviously worried about her various wounds, looking at the large cut across the Drow Ranger's abdomen with a pained expression on his face.

"How did your trek go, Traxex?" muttered the Omniknight as he raised his heavy paladin hammer and began channeling the Omniscience, purifying her and healing her various wounds. Traxex spared a faint grin at her friend as she closed her eyes and slumped onto the rock next to the Omniknight.

"This is going to be much tougher than I thought."


	2. Chapter 2

The forest lit up with sparks of fire every few seconds.

Burnt flakes of charred skin scattered in the breeze of the wind, lending a snowy air to the surrounding trees. Indeed, many were already flecked with a fine layer of ashes, with a large bonfire burning in the middle of the pathway dividing the two trees.

The wind blew the scent of burnt corpses throughout the battlefield. Patches of fire fed on the vegetation that grew alongside the path, while a burning trail on fire followed two figures. Fire was a constant marker of the progression of the Slayer. Lina and Rubick had pushed the path down the Dire Ancient for several hours, simply burning all that they had come across. The two had formed a much better partnership than Lina initially thought, even though she did all the killing while Rubick simply observed in the background. Her firepower was enough to scorch the endless stream of creeps without any assistance from the Magus, but that was not to say that he was useless. Along the way, Rubick had taught her to utilize her flames in ways that not even she had thought possible. Most notable among these teachings was a sort of trance-like state that seemed to be fueled from the fire within Lina herself; she felt the flames licking her belly and the intoxicating heat coursing through her body. The closest thing she could equate with the experience would be the glorious warmth she had felt in the Desert of Misrule, back when she was separated from her sister.

The nostalgia of it all sent chills down her spine.

For every creep that died in the process, Lina's fires were stoked. Her fireballs grew larger and larger with every incineration, until she was positively thrumming with a surge of fiery energy. Now she could happily incinerate the creeps at a ridiculous rate, although at the cost of melting her coatings of nail polish.

A particular creep met its unlucky end, blazed in an abnormally large column of fire. Surprised, Lina examined her soft, pale hands. They looked soft and feminine, a trait that Lina was proud of, and a betrayal of the dangers they could summon forth.

Such a gruesome, menial task as wiping the constant waves of creeps out had become something of a bonding session for Lina and Rubick. The Magus would barely do anything, aside from the occasional bolt of arcane energy that would destroy a whole line of creeps. But he would occasionally remark on her channeling, her form, when she fought. A Grand Magus, she mused, really did not need to stoop to the process of killing mere creeps. After all, he had earned his title through his sheer knowledge, and Lina supposed that he was still helping her in his own roundabout way.

"Keep steady and do not tread too far; the towers that guard the Dire are unforgiving when they sense intruders." Rubick had occasionally reminded her. Indeed, the spiky pillars that lined the paths to the heart of the Dire base were notorious for their powerful rays of dark energy that killed almost anything in a few hits. They were probably the most dangerous things after the opposing heroes themselves, and most of the time the towers were worthier foes than half the dimwits Lina had faced.

Rubick himself had remained relatively silent aside from his rare warnings. He had had a vast amount of experience with essentially everything that Lina could think of. Even her vast array of fire conjurations was unlikely to surpass Rubick's own – a testament to the worth of the magician. But she knew that his reputation was not simply due to his knowledge of magic, for she knew of another who surpassed all in that field. No, his true power lay in his ability to perfectly replicate, and in some cases, augment spells from others. Lina had no doubt that, even if she pulled out her biggest fireballs, they would simply be replicated and refined. For her own haughtiness, she could not bear to see her beloved tongues of fire serving another.

Another pair of staff-wielding creeps met their quick end at Lina's hands. In a few seconds, nothing remained of them but a smear of pale grey ash dashed across the dirt path. Occasionally, Rubick would playfully levitate a few creeps for both their amusement, but for the most part he remained silent.

The trees overhead suddenly rustled in the wake of a huge group of birds flying into the skies above. The creeps, intent on killing each other, cursed in their fate to fight unto death, did not pay the slightest iota of attention, but continued hacking at each other. Rubick looked up and observed as the bright purple-and-green avians flew away from the battleground, an expression of unidentifiable regret etched across his normally expressionless features. Lina snorted. She supposed the sight would have been quite tasteful for elders such as the Magus, in some cheesy wizened way, but she did not care for the sight at all. What she enjoyed most particularly was having a good marshmallow roasting with a couple of pints of spiced whiskey and smoked sausages to the side, but that would have to be for another time. Ensuring that she had the last hit, Lina took out another pair of creeps and incinerated the staff of the ranged one in the back, laughing when it decided to hold on to the now-flaming staff and subsequently burn to death.

She basked in the ease of the task. Her mind vaguely touched the situations of her fellow Radiant allies, imagining what the ever-enigmatic Anti-Mage was doing. In particular, she wondered what the Drow Ranger was up to. Smirking slightly, she could just imagine Traxex posed all high and mighty amongst the trees of the forest, picking off creeps with a deft twirling of her fingers and a swift twinge of her elegantly carved bow. Lina had always somewhat admired Traxex, the Drow Ranger, for both her beauty and her power. She was relatively new to the defense, but she had possibly the most potential amongst all the newer heroes. The Ranger's attitude toward Lina, however, could succinctly be described as _cold. _An unpleasant reminder of Rylai.

She paused.

What was she doing, thinking of her sister in the middle of battle? The few times that they interacted over the years since they had been separated had been particularly engraved in her memory; for one thing, they were all relatively unpleasant. In fact, Lina wasn't even sure what her sister looked like anymore. She had absolutely no idea of what Rylai was even up to now, although there were rumours that her sister had joined the defense on the side of the Radiant.

Lina hoped to God that she hadn't.

Rubick moved up with the wave of creeps. They were finally deep into Dire territory now, with the heart of the Ancient being another couple of hours away. The Slayer followed slowly in the back, levitating at a much more sluggish pace. Worries about her allies, worries about enemy heroes ambushing her, worries about even possibly dying – all washed away as another wave of dreamlike nostalgia gripped her. The last thing she saw before her vision faded in a bright burst of sunlight was Rubick suddenly turning back to her, the expression of horror and shock on his face, and the clatter of his staff falling to the bare dirt ground. And all was white.

* * *

She was standing at a plateau at the very edge of the Desert of Misrule. A rocky vantage point, this was the highest place in the area around the desert for leagues. Far, far in the horizon was a splatter of lush green valleys, with the abundance of life evident even from such a distance.

The warm desert air blew against her face, tinged with drops of moisture from the nearby jungles. The breeze was welcome, inviting licks of wind lapping softly at the fiery redhead's face. She smiled. She remembered the last time she was standing in this same spot decades ago, anxious to live by herself and eager to leave her family. And she remembered that this same vantage point was the last time she would see such chlorophyllous sights for a very long time.

_She had left her parents and her sister when she was but a teenager, and she had nothing left to lose. In fact, she was eager to go live with her aunt, as long as it meant that she would be in the scorching desert, where the sun always shone. Excitement was an understatement, to say the least. The best part of this new arrangement was, by far, being away from Rylai. Lina could not recall how many times she had been infuriated with her things being frozen, especially Merlini, her stuffed Wildkin. And she especially hated the cold aura that had always permeated the house as long as Rylai was around, one that was arcane to its core yet chilling to the bone._

"_I'm going to be one happy girl when you're gone" were the last word Rylai had spoken to Lina as the latter finally moved out of the house. Not that Lina cared, for their "sisterly" relationship had always been fraught with threats, violence and mutual disdain. But there was still one small twinge of sadness at the fact that she was moving away from her sister, despite the fact that one of them was a cold-hearted icy bitch and the other was a fiery vixen. _

_It was said that the two sisters of fire and ice were polar opposites, that they hated each other. Over the years, as they had developed at their own respective paces, the two womens' reputations had grown across their respective territories, until Rylai had established her supremacy as the ultimate arcane master of Icewrack, and Lina had forged a reputation as the Goddess of the Misrule Desert. But Lina had not seen her sister for years, and to her surprise, she was starting to __miss__ Rylai. There was only so much a girl could do when sitting around and rejecting an endless line of suitors who all had the gall to propose to her. A particularly hairy Misrulian that Lina had never met in her life had proposed to her; a mild mistake on his part. Safe to say, his bodily follicles were more than enough for the beginnings of a blazing fire. And Lina could only conclude from the constant gaping void in her heart that, while mastering her fire magicks was nice, she truly wanted some __**fun**__. And the only person that she truly enjoyed humiliating, taunting, burning, was her sister-of-flesh-and-blood. Setting upon her goal, Lina began her preparations as she readied to leave the Desert of Misrule, her domain for ten years and no less, to fulfill her yearning for excitement, no matter the cost. _

Smiling slightly at the thought of her immature reasoning from seemingly a lifetime ago, Lina took one last look at the beautiful vista in front of her. She had definitely grown from the fiery young girl she was at the height of the Defense of the Ancients into a developed, mature woman who was at the peak of her powers. The end of the war between the Radiant and the Dire had been a momentous one indeed, something that Lina would never forget in her lifetime. After Lina and Rubick had continued the push down the dirt road, they had eventually contacted the other allied heroes through animal couriers that also served as messenger. The Radiance had then organized a coordinated assault on the Dire Ancient, to both fully end the war and destroy the relic of evil that was the Dire Ancient. The siege was led by the majestic Anti-Mage after he had finished wiping out the last of the neutral creeps dotting the battlefield and acquired his signature item, the mighty axe known as Battlefury. His assault on the forces of the Dire was simply undescribable; a sight so grand and spectacular that the rest of the Radiant team was content with just sitting around and watching open-mouthed as the Anti-Mage singlehandedly took out three of the opposing Dire heroes with little difficulty. The rest of the team then singularly attacked and destroyed the Ancient, ending the Defense of the Ancients for good.

Many years had passed since the destruction of the Dire Ancient. The Omniknight had returned to his temple to serve his god for the rest of his life. He compared the Defense to a test of his commitment to the Omniscience, something that Lina had found absurd. The man was simply much too zealous, almost unhealthily so. She could still remember his fanatic prayers before engaging in combat – a practice she found absurd and hilarious. Although, she had to admit, there were always others who were dedicated to the point of simply being creepy, Chen and Shendelzare, for example. Nevertheless, she supposed that she also missed his constant fatherly presence, something that she (and she highly suspected, Traxex) found comforting.

Rubick had returned to his position as the Grand Magus of the World, of both this realm and the next. The Magus, learned as he was, had picked up a few tricks from his time in the Defense, and brought back to his domain Lina's own Dragon Slave, albeit in a slightly different colour. This was one of the many things that had highly upset her, for she intensely disliked anyone replicating her fire magicks; the flames were to sway only to her. The only positive aspect of Rubick's newfound magicks was that he did not display his knowledge of the Laguna Blade, something that he had seen more than enough times to analyze, memorize and synthesize.

The Anti-Mage had retreated to his secluded domain, wherever it was, in search of his supposedly long-lost brother, Terrorblade. This was an unexpectedly emotional moment that he had revealed to the rest of the Radiant heroes, that his hatred for magic and his near-zealous dedication to purge the arcane stemmed from the corruption and downfall of his beloved twin brother. Lina had personally been quite excited at the prospect of meeting Terrorblade, a potentially friendlier version of the Anti-Mage (as she had to admit, the Anti-Mage was quite popular amongst the females of the Defense for his rugged good looks), until she had learned from the Anti-Mage that Terrorblade had embarked on the same journey as Anti-Mage himself had, albeit for the purpose of absorbing and feeding off magic instead of purging it. The story had been so touching, Lina was quite sorry to see the dedicated zealot proceed towards his fate.

And the Drow Ranger had ended up where she had begun, in the forests of the Drow people. In the waning days of the attack on the Dire Ancient, she had finally warmed up to Lina a bit, revealing bits of herself that the latter had never previously suspected existed within Traxex. One of the Ranger's anecdotes related with her goodbye to her adopted family, the Drow. She had cried for several days afterwards, living in the lonely woods by herself with only her bow, her arrows, and the clothes on her back. Estranged, Traxex had decided to live only with her family in her memories, harking back to her childhood when she had learned her famed marksmanship from her adopted Drow father Urfthar to the many long hours spent fletching her dark blue arrows that pierced the armour, and lives, of so many a man. When questioned why she was estranging herself from the family she had so dearly loved, Traxex had only given a sad smile and said, "Because it had to happen."

So many memories. So many moments. Lina felt a pang of nostalgia for the glory days of her prowess. While it was true that her fire magicks had significantly improved since her time as a defender of the Radiant Ancient – she had developed three completely different variations of her infamous Laguna Blade in the years following! – She had longed for another great adventure, another passionate dedication to a goal! And still in her heart of hearts, she longed for one more chance to see her sister…

The pain in her heart had suddenly intensified threefold, a sharp shooting pain that scorched constantly. Lina grimaced, completely befuddled. This was completely out of the ordinary for her, who was normally shamelessly cheery and rarely brooding. The pain was such that even her limbs were beginning to shake, the tips of her fingers stinging with freezing jolts of cold. Then she had realized, it was not pain that was causing her this chill. No, she had felt this aura before, and now its blindingly familiar feeling had clicked within Lina's mind. And she had realized, now as she was standing on her vantage point at the top of the plateau, the green scenery below her was starting to wilt, icicles developing at the tips of the leaves. The rock itself started to frost over, and her breath came out in large puffs of smoke. Heart dropping, the fire conjurer slowly turned to look over her shoulder.

It was Rylai.

* * *

I do plan on sticking with this story in the long run. This is my first Dota 2 fanfic, and only my second in total (still not very experienced). Any feedback would be welcome, especially on developing as a writer! Criticisms and compliments would be greatly appreciated, thanks and have a nice day!


	3. Chapter 3

It was quite a strange sight, really.

A streak of dark violet that had flashed over Rubick's vision and temporarily blinded him. The minute he registered his surroundings, Lina was slowly rotating in the air, suspended by thick purple coils composed of tendrils of manifested energy. Her head thrust back in a state of unconsciousness, she looked oddly peaceful despite the black sparks of electricity jumped around the Slayer. Rubick was surprised, to say the very least. But in that split second, his brain registered two things.

Firstly - that even in spite of the dangers of the situation, his penchant for stealing spells had taken first place, and Rubick realized that even in his decades of careful learning, he had never encountered this sort of enchantment, one that was definitely not of an earthly origin – the traces of magic that surrounded the Slayer radiated a faintly otherworldly air.

Secondly – they were being attacked. He had _felt_ that there had been a dank aura, but had not registered as the presence of another hero; instead, attributing it to another charming feature of Dire territory. The being in front of him had appeared from behind the brushes in which it hid, and it simply looked…_strange, _to say the very least. It was coloured purple, and had the four-legged body of a horse, somewhat, but the head was sleek and much like that of a fiend's: eyeless, elongated, and malevolently menacing. Two rather stubby arms protruded from the front, with one hand's wrist slit and leaking a trail of blood.

Rubick grimaced under his mask, gripping his staff tighter. Something must have shown despite his faceless visage, however, as the creature began laughing a high, cold laugh.

"**You are…the Grand Magus?**" The creature cackled maliciously. Its voice had a piercingly frightening tone – one that even made Rubick hesitate to directly confront it. The voice simply was indescribably grating, high and cold and malicious at the same time. "**I am Bane, the Bane Elemental, spawn of the ichor of Nyctasha. I come to feed.." **Intoning the last word, the Bane Elemental suddenly bit down on something Rubick couldn't see. He immediately experienced a massive surge of pain in his head, along with a subsequent drop in energy. Weakened, the Grand Magus buckled, and slowly slid to the ground, while the Bane Elemental began sniggering and grew slightly larger. "**This battlefield truly is a wonderland.."**

Grimacing at the sudden drop in vitality, Rubick looked up and – with effort – lifted his staff at Lina. Immediately in a swirl of vivid green, the magical energy was siphoned and conducted through the tip of the staff, flashing through his mind's eye. He could suddenly see the spell in its entirety – a dark curse that put the victim in their worst nightmares, torturing them until the duration of the curse (which was admittedly quite long) wore off. Whether the nightmares were of the victim's own worst fears or simply their worst memories, Rubick could not tell, although he suspected both. Compartmentalizing the different aspects of the dark magic and readying himself, Rubick slowly lifted his left hand at the Bane Elemental. But even as he did, the same drawbacks to his famed ability flashed through his head, a lesson he learned from the previous Grand Magus upon discovery of his "borrowing" talents – _I do not know the consequences of casting this spell nor the complexities surrounding it, and must garner what I can from initially using it. Therefore, it is not safe to use it immediately after stealing; rather, testing it out first and carefully measuring its abilities is most wise._

Nonetheless, Rubick channeled his potent magical powers and projected a dark, glyphic curse upon the Bane Elemental, careful not to exert himself too much. It was surrounded by the same dark volts as those surrounding Lina, with tendrils of green coiling from the centre – a little trademark of Rubick's spellsteals. The Bane Elemental floated most eerily in midair, its mouth open in an almost surprised fashion – until it suddenly chomped down, breaking the curse and setting itself free.

"**HAHAHAHAHAHAH! YOU BELIEVED, YOU BELIEVED YOU COULD GIVE ****ME**** NIGHTMARES?!" **The Bane Elemental chittered, almost giddy in his glee. "**I have heard about you, O Grand Magus, and your ability to steal spells is quite...extraordinary. But you cannot hope to master the plane of dreams as I have!" **

While slightly taken aback by how easily the Bane Elemental had broken his own curse, Rubick remained unfazed. "I may not have as much mastery of the dream plane as you, Bane, but I have much in store for you." True to his word, Rubick drew upon his mastery of the arcane once again to redirect his spell steal at the Elemental itself, learning the ability it had previously used to weaken him. Closing his eyes, Rubick could see the fundamentals of the spell – an ability that most closely resembled, in abstract terms, an extremely powerful life drain. Slightly shuddering at the fact that he had been a victim to this malevolent power, Rubick compartmentalized this and jutted his staff out at the Elemental, willing the drain. Immediately, the Magus felt a massive surge in vitality, an intoxicatingly large amount, while the Elemental screamed in pain.

Over the screaming, Rubick managed to hear the only coherent words, "**THIEF! ROGUE! MY BRAIN SAP…!" **until the Elemental regained his faculties and growled in anger. Lifting both of its hands up, the Bane Elemental began to channel a dark pit underneath Rubick, where skeletons and fiends began swarming and gripping and clawing at him, where he felt he was slowly being dragged into the dark depths of unknown. And as his vision began to fade, as his control over his body loosened, he remembered seeing Lina flying towards the occupied Bane Elemental in a fit of burning rage, her eyes becoming a glowing orange and her normally red hair becoming tongues of flames, the literal embodiment of a fiery soul…

_Rubick found himself once again seated in his throne-like podium in the Hidden Council, where only the highest of mages stood._

_The domed ceiling above him depicted several Skywrath figures soaring in the air, a metaphor for the reach of the power of the Hidden Council. Rubick despised such extravagant displays such as this, which seemed to serve as proof of the seemingly unlimited power of the Insubstantial Eleven. But Rubick knew better. _

_He was the best of these, and for a reason, too. He was the Grand Magus, the magician of unsurpassed skill and power, the one who knew all sorcery and wielded it thus. The Insubstantial Eleven had bowed before his power, and so had the Maguses who had dared challenge him for his title thus far. _

_The title of Grand Magus was granted to only one wizard in all the land. That much was common knowledge. The position transferred from mage to mage, upon death, forfeiture of title, or the loss of the title to a newcomer. Rubick had known the position to be a very coveted one; one that guaranteed his name to be spread across the lands and one that would attract an unprecedented amount of unwanted attention. The challenger in question had to have the audacity to demand audience with the Grand Magus in front of the Insubstantial Eleven, where all could witness the ensuing test. Three days after his ascension, Rubick had already defeated seventeen different mages, all who had been too young, too arrogant and far too weak. Although, to be fair, Rubick did find a couple of the young mages intriguing, for in their youth they had learned several ways of magick, some of which were quirky even to Rubick – not that those magicks in question were threatening to his power in any way._

_The entrance to the Chamber of the Hidden Council opened, letting the golden sunlight make its way into the musty room. In the wake of the light strolled in a tall figure, shrouded from head to toe in a strange garb. Streaks of red coloured the sharply distinctive cloak, with juts at peculiar angles. A dark purple hood covered his complexion. The large, unwieldy padding on the cloak provided an incredibly confident air; indeed, the man was evidently fashionable. _

_Rubick smirked. Today did not seem to promise any sort of new entertainment, aside from a good gaping at eccentric garbs. Rubick slouched back into his elegantly carved throne, staring down at the challenger. "So," the Grand Magus proclaimed, "You would challenge the Grand Magus? I am the master of the arcane, I have seen all, and I know all. There are no magicks that lie beyond my grasp, so I ask you once again: you would challenge me?" There was a sudden pause, and Rubick added, "I would advise you to return from whence you came, young wizard. Save me the trouble of rudely enlightening you, for I have had to show plenty of other arrogant mages the truth."_

_The figure stood silently in the center of the Council, evidently not intimidated at all by Rubick's presentation. The Magus sighed; he had never been seen as threatening despite his sheer power. That was one of the things he disliked; he felt he never got the respect he deserved. Hell, the fact that these whelps believed him to be within their reach in terms of power angered him!_

_Rubick stood up from his regal throne, annoyed by the audacity of the hooded wizard. "I see my words have no effect whatsoever on you. I will bend to your wishes, then. Come, come face your defeat!" _

_At those words, the Grand Magus snapped his fingers, instantly producing his trusty staff. Stepping down from his seat, he descended the elevated podium to meet his challenger face-to-face. However, Rubick suddenly sensed a surge of power that was momentarily loosed by the figure. Eyes widening from behind his omnipresent mask, he slightly backed away from the hooded man, trying to make out the figure underneath his layers of wrap._

"_Ah, I see you have finally sensed _something,_ Son of Aghanim." The hooded man finally spoke, his voice an enchanting melody of smoothness. It was almost comforting, to hear such a silky tone, but the same tone was exceedingly dangerous to confront. "I have heard your claims, that you have achieved the title of Grand Magus. I have heard tales of your victory over the pathetic excuses for Maguses recently, they who shamed the name of wizards with their lack of mastery over these most arcane arts." Each word rang throughout the open chamber and echoed into splintered whispers, every vocalization carrying the brunt of the authority of the figure. "But I am here to show you the error of your title. I will teach you what true sorcery is, and you will be enlightened. For there will never truly be a Grand Magus while I am here."_

_The figure slowly lifted his hands and pulled back his hood, revealing a handsome visage. The man's face was stark white, with white pupils – a symbol of utmost mastery of magick. His hair hung in long blonde curtains, maintained with the elegance of a princeling. But the most intriguing aspect of this man was the intensity of his gaze, one that bespoke of his absolute concentration and willpower. "Come, Rubick, Son of Aghanim. I have had the pleasure of defeating your father, and it will surely be no large feat to defeat his son." Rubick digested each word slowly, beginning to piece together the facts presented to him. He had heard stories of the quasi-immortals, beings that have lived for as long as the early days of creation. In front of him was a strange challenger, one that was incomparably different from his predecessors. He carried the authority of a thousand kings, displayed an undoubtedly strong willpower, and carried the honour of defeating Aghanim himself. And the most foremost fact about Aghanim was his supreme power and his legendary magical prowess. _

_He made up his mind._

"_Show me your power, challenger. I am the Grand Magus, and there is no other mage in the world that can defeat me."_

* * *

Sorry for the delay in posting a new chapter! I've had exams in the past few months and I've simply been very busy. However, seeing as Dota 2 doesn't seem to be very popular in terms of fanfics, I'm determined to at least produce something steady! Thanks for your support, I appreciate it!


End file.
